Warlords
Warlords is an arcade game released by Atari in 1980. The game resembles a combination of Breakout and Quadrapong (an early Atari arcade game) in the sense that not only could up to 4 players play the game at the same time, but also the "forts" in the four corners of the screen were brick walls that could be broken with a flaming ball.
Warlords used spinner controllers for player control, and came in both an upright 2 player version and a 4 player cocktail version. The upright version uses a black and white monitor, and reflects the game image onto a mirror, with a backdrop of castles, giving the game a 3D feel. The upright version only supports up to two simultaneous players, which move through the levels as a team. The cocktail version is in color, and supported 1-4 players. 3-4 player games are free-for-alls, and the game would end as soon as one player wins. 1-2 player games play identical to the upright version.
According to the Atari video game production numbers, 1014 uprights were made, and 1253 cocktails were produced. The prototype version of Warlords was called "Castles and Kings" and was in housed in a 4 player "Sprint 4 like" cabinet - it was huge. Only 2 versions of the prototype were made. The game was considered a success, however the large cabinet made it impossible to produce in large quantities nor was it feasible to install - hence the smaller cocktail design.
Warlords is a battle between four warlords, 1-4 of which can be controlled by the player(s). Each fort was distinguished by a different color, the four original colors being orange, green, turquoise blue, and purple. The goal of the game is for one player to break down the walls of the surrounding warlords and destroy the icon at the center (crown for human controlled, dark lord mask for computer AI). This is accomplished by bouncing a fireball off of a cursor that the player moves around the outer layer of their castle. The fireball could also be held by pushing a "Power stone" button, at the cost of slowly deteriorating the player's own walls. When an opponent's icon was destroyed it would release another fire ball onto the game field. The last player with their icon intact will be awarded a point bonus. A game ends when all human players are eliminated.
Warlords used spinner controllers for player control, and came in both an upright 2 player version and a 4 player cocktail version. The upright version uses a black and white monitor, and reflects the game image onto a mirror, with a backdrop of castles, giving the game a 3D feel. The upright version only supports up to two simultaneous players, which move through the levels as a team. The cocktail version is in color, and supported 1-4 players. 3-4 player games are free-for-alls, and the game would end as soon as one player wins. 1-2 player games play identical to the upright version.
According to the Atari video game production numbers, 1014 uprights were made, and 1253 cocktails were produced. The prototype version of Warlords was called "Castles and Kings" and was in housed in a 4 player "Sprint 4 like" cabinet - it was huge. Only 2 versions of the prototype were made. The game was considered a success, however the large cabinet made it impossible to produce in large quantities nor was it feasible to install - hence the smaller cocktail design.
Warlords is a battle between four warlords, 1-4 of which can be controlled by the player(s). Each fort was distinguished by a different color, the four original colors being orange, green, turquoise blue, and purple. The goal of the game is for one player to break down the walls of the surrounding warlords and destroy the icon at the center (crown for human controlled, dark lord mask for computer AI). This is accomplished by bouncing a fireball off of a cursor that the player moves around the outer layer of their castle. The fireball could also be held by pushing a "Power stone" button, at the cost of slowly deteriorating the player's own walls. When an opponent's icon was destroyed it would release another fire ball onto the game field. The last player with their icon intact will be awarded a point bonus. A game ends when all human players are eliminated.
Warlords
Télécharger Warlords
Contents of the ROM :
Technical
CPU
- maincpu M6502 (@ 1 Mhz)
Chipset
- TIA (@ 0 Mhz)
- Cassette
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 176 x 223
- Frequency 59.922743 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 1
- Number of buttons 1
- Kind of controler joy (8 ways)
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Warlords Screenshots
Clones of Warlords
Atari 2600 version
The version for the Atari 2600 console was released in 1981. It features the use of paddle controllers instead of joysticks. The 2600 version of Warlords is often cited as one of the more popular Atari 2600 titles by classic video gamers, and was voted the 25th greatest video game in the 100th issue of Game Informer (August 2001 issue). The 2600 port was written by Carla Meninsky, one of the two female game designers to work for Atari in the early 1980s. According to Meninsky, the development of the 2600 version preceded development of the arcade version.
Other versions
In 2004, Bryan Edewaard developed and published an unlicensed homebrew version of Warlords for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8bit computers named Castle Crisis.
A port of this game, including a new "remix" version, is included in Retro Atari Classics for the Nintendo DS. It featured multiplayer play through wireless.
The game was released on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade on May 27, 2008, featuring a new special HD mode and Xbox Live Vision Camera support.
Warlords was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service for its Xbox 360 console and for Windows-based PCs in June 2010.
A new version of Warlords was released on PlayStation Network on October 9, 2012 in North America and October 10, 2012 in Europe. It was also released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 14, 2012.
In 1999, a similar expanded game was released on the PlayStation as Lords of Lunar, a secret game included on the Making of disc of Lunar: The Silver Star Story. The game could be accessed by pressing Up, Down, Left, Right, Triangle, and Start in sequence while the movie is playing. This version of the game allowed up to 8 players using two multi-tap adaptors, added multi-ball each time a castle was destroyed, and had rumble effects using the DualShock controllers. It allowed many customizations to the play style and had options for simple tournament play.
A port of this game, including a new "remix" version, is included in Retro Atari Classics for the Nintendo DS. It featured multiplayer play through wireless.
The game was released on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade on May 27, 2008, featuring a new special HD mode and Xbox Live Vision Camera support.
Warlords was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service for its Xbox 360 console and for Windows-based PCs in June 2010.
A new version of Warlords was released on PlayStation Network on October 9, 2012 in North America and October 10, 2012 in Europe. It was also released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 14, 2012.
In 1999, a similar expanded game was released on the PlayStation as Lords of Lunar, a secret game included on the Making of disc of Lunar: The Silver Star Story. The game could be accessed by pressing Up, Down, Left, Right, Triangle, and Start in sequence while the movie is playing. This version of the game allowed up to 8 players using two multi-tap adaptors, added multi-ball each time a castle was destroyed, and had rumble effects using the DualShock controllers. It allowed many customizations to the play style and had options for simple tournament play.
See also
- Airburst
- Medieval Mayhem
